


is there life on mars

by jojotxt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU: keith crash lands on Earth in lance's backyard, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And he stars in this year's top new scifi romcon, Galra Keith (Voltron), Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Keith, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), lance has a blog, pls read the note before hand things will make much more sense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 14:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7577872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jojotxt/pseuds/jojotxt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Drumroll, please.” He makes a tapping noise on his desk and grins and leans in, shining the flashlight into his face, illuminating his glittering eyes. “Today is May 12, 2016. My name is Lance... and I just found an alien.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	is there life on mars

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY so a bit about this fic before you read:  
> -Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are all friends just living their lives.  
> -Keith is a Galra.  
> -I kind of?? Made my own spin on the Galra empire. I based it off of the First Order, where all the soldiers have numbers instead of names and are pretty much born to be soldiers and stuff. Also aliens don't have gender.  
> -Lance is a total nerd in this please accept this.  
> -Also I have no idea when the characters' birthdays are so I created them  
> -There WILL be a second part to this, but I have NO idea how intense it's going to be, so the warnings and rating are subject to change! Please keep that in mind!  
> -This was heavily inspired by David Bowie's "Starman"! Please give it a listen when you can. Title comes from the song with the same name by him as well.
> 
> That's about it! Thanks for reading!  
> Enjoy!

_“Ah… hey—Is this thing on?” A feed appears on the camera screen: a young man dressed in sleep clothes appears in the shot. His shirt has a large, characterized alien head on it with the words ‘I don’t believe in humans’ over and below the figure. It appears to be dark in the room, the only light is coming from a flashlight the boy is holding. Rectangular glasses are perched on his nose and his mouth upturned in a seemingly excited grin._

_“Okay…” The boy clears his throat. “So, since Pidge called bullshit on my picture of Bigfoot, I’ve had nothing to post on my cryptids blog. Which literally sucks because I have about 10k followers on there, and recently I’ve been getting a lot of anonymous hate for my supposedly ‘fake’ pictures of Nessie from my Europe vacation last year. Which—by the way—they are not fake. I swear to God it wasn’t a fallen branch or nothin’. And also Pidge is wrong. That was not a really harry man in my Bigfoot pictures—Pidge is just jealous because they haven’t found_ shit _for their blog. Which is obvious, I mean. Because. Ghosts don’t exist. But whatever. Point it, I’ve been losing a shit ton of followers but I think what I just found is going to really top the icing on the cake.”_

_“Drumroll, please.” He makes a tapping noise on his desk and grins and leans in, shining the flashlight into his face, illuminating his glittering eyes. “Today is May 12, 2016. My name is Lance… and I just found an_ alien _.”_

\--

 

Lance didn’t believe in ghosts. He didn’t believe in demons, or people getting possessed by demons. He didn’t believe in any spirits needing to go on to ‘the great beyond’. He didn’t believe in lost, tortured souls or vengeful spirits. It was all a load of bullshit, honestly. The _Paranormal Activity_ series honestly made him fall asleep. _The Exorcist_ was the most bullshit thing Pidge had ever made him watch and nothing made sense about it. Because. Ghosts don’t exist.

 

He did, however, believe in cryptids.

 

A cryptid, defined by the ever so resourceful Wikipedia, is an animal or plant whose existence has been suggested, but has not been discovered or documented by the scientific community or by direct evidence. Examples: Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, The Yeti, Mermaids, and Mothman. Those were just a few, though. There were hundreds of cryptids just waiting to be discovered. Waiting to be revealed. And Lance was determined to uncover all of their secrets.

 

“Just imagine,” Lance had said eagerly, updating his blog on his hunt for the Flatwoods Monster. “They’re out there, somewhere. Hiding in wait for some devilishly handsome explorer named Lance to come and find them.” He swiveled around in his chair to face Pidge and Hunk. “One day, I’m going to find all of them. I’ll be famous.” He sighed dreamily. “There will be articles of me. My face will be on the cover of _New York Times_ for weeks. I’ll be a scientific legend.”

 

Pidge grimaced. “You do realize that most of those supposed cryptids you’re so obsessed with are most likely just regular, misplaced plants and animals?” They leaned back on their elbows on Lance’s bed. “There’s no way they’re real.”

 

Lance scoffed. “Yeah? Well tell that to your light glares and dust fragments.”

 

Pidge glared at him. “Ghosts are real. There have been countless stories and retellings of people encountering them. They’re out there, Lance.”

 

“Pssssh. Who you gonna call?” Lance sang.

 

“I swear to God.”

 

Lance laughed. “It’s okay, Pidge. I understand it can be hard to face the truth after you’ve worked so hard to maintain your blog with pictures of your brother dressed in a white sheet, standing in a dark, mysterious room.” He set a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “It’s okay to cry.” He had only laughed some more when Pidge slapped his hand away and called him a jackass.

 

Recently, Lance had been getting more and more into the whole alien hype. After marathoning all seven _Star Wars_ movies with Hunk (because apparently it was a crime to not watch them), Lance had seemed to grow a fixation on the idea of life outside Earth. He then turned to watching every single episode and movie of _Star Trek_ (in his humble opinion, _Deep Space Nine_ was utter perfection). After _Star Trek_ came _The X-Files_ , and with the _X-Files_ came countless numbers of old classic science fiction movies, starting with _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ and _Forbidden Planet_ and ending with _Invasion of the Body Snatchers._

 

And after all of that came numerous documentaries on discovering alien life and the possibilities of UFO sightings.

 

Needless to say, Lance was hooked on the idea of extraterrestrials.

 

Pidge had laughed their ass off when they found out, of course. “You’re mental,” they cackled. “Absolutely mental!”

 

Lance didn’t pay them any mind, though. He was in love with the thought of communicating with other worlds and learning other planetary customs and cultures. It was fascinating to him, the idea of life outside Earth.

 

On his eighteenth birthday, Lance had begged his mother for a trip to Area 51.

 

“Please, please, _please Madre_!” he had whined. “We live only a few hours out, anyhow! It wouldn’t even be that long! I just need pictures for my blog.”

 

She had shaken her head and smiled, taking the towels out of the dyer and putting them into a basket. “ _Hijo_ , I swear, you are into the strangest things. I mean, _aliens_? What a ridiculous notion.” She looked up at him. “Will Pidge and Hunk be joining you? Because I don’t think I would be able to make a trip like that. There’s too much to do around the house and I’m not sure your siblings will be able to handle being alone by themselves for a day.” She closed the dryer and perched the laundry basket on her hip. “And I’m not sure how comfortable I am with you driving to that place all by yourself.” She held up a hand in silence when Lance opened his mouth to speak. “I know, I know, you’re an adult and all now, but still. I worry.” She gave a sweet smile. “ _But_. If Pidge or Hunk were to accompany you, I would feel much better about the idea.”

 

So, it had ended up being him, Hunk, and Pidge crammed into Lance’s beat up truck, blasting David Bowie’s “Starman” and taking a daytrip to Area 51. It had been a longer trip than Lance had imagined, plus his truck was so old it could barely handle air conditioning. It had _hand cranks_ to roll down the windows. Pidge was squished in between Lance and Hunk, eating gummi bears, and was deemed the Official Navigator, as they were the only one who was able to read the map well enough.

 

The trip was uneventful, in the end. All there was to look at was a large fence and a sign warning them to stay away and that the area was restricted. But there were a few novelty shops and alien themed motels and signs that Lance took pictures of. He even bought himself a little plastic alien keychain with his name on it. And he bought Hunk and Pidge lunch for being such amazing friends—even though Pidge made fun of him the whole time for being excited over a barbed wire electrical fence.

 

Still, it was fun. Lance was happy enough that he was able to see something that could possible confirm the existence of aliens. Because Lance knew the truth. Aliens were out there, and he was determined to prove their existence.

 

It was the summer before he started college that Lance’s life changed forever.

 

And thus, it begins.

 

\--

 

(Present Day, May 12. 2:35 AM, CST.)

 

Lance is bored.

 

Like, the worst kind of bored. The kind of bored where you mull over things to do in your mind, thinking that maybe _something_ of interest will pop up—but nothing ever does. He’s been over ideas a hundred times. He’s refreshed his Tumblr feed at least fifty times in the past minute. He’s jogged around his room, drunken three glasses of milk, and even listening to Adele’s entire discography. But still.

 

He’s bored.

 

He’s started contemplating his life, at this point.

 

He thinks about the different things that he could be doing. He _could_ be a normal fresh out of high school teenager and go party and drink until he passes out or smoke some dank weed, but Lance does not have the mental and physical ability to deal with people at the moment. Even though the thought of getting high sounds really pleasing.

 

He’s _bored._

Lance tosses his E.T. plushie up in the air a few times before sighing and holding it in his grasp, staring it down. E.T. looks on at him, smiling in his wrinkly, ugly, alien way. Like he is mocking Lance. “I’m having a staring contest with a stuffed toy,” Lance mutters to himself a few minutes later. “I’m having a staring contest with a stuffed toy and I am bored out of my fucking mind.”

 

He sets E.T. aside and grabs his phone, sighing when he sees no messages from Pidge or Hunk. Pidge is probably playing video games or filming a vlog for their own paranormal page. Hunk is probably dead asleep. His only two friends are preoccupied and Lance doesn’t know what to do with himself.

 

Sometimes, sleeping in until 4 PM sucks major ass.

 

Lance is thinking of different ways to entertain himself when his house literally _shakes_. He sees a flash of light shoot across the sky from his window before he hears a crash coming from the woods behind his backyard. Lance ducks down to try to salvage his miniature clay statue of Mothman from the clutches of the floor. He manages to catch it just before his hits the hard wood, and he sighs in relief.

  
After carefully setting Mothman back on his bookshelf, Lance runs to his window, scanning the woods for any sort of movement or light. _Just what the hell was that_ , he thinks. He scans the area some more. There’s nothing. But then, he spots a line of smoke coming from an area of the forest further away from him.

 

He quickly rushes from the window to slip on a pair of boots and grab his flashlight and cellphone. He rushes down the stairs of his home as quietly as he can, as to not wake his family. It would be real fun to try to explain to his mother why he’s sneaking out of the house so early in the morning. She would definitely kick his ass into next week.

 

Once he’s out the door, Lance literally _sprints_ to the woods, heading in the general area where he saw the smoke.

 

_Please God let this be what I think it is._

He shines the flashlight in front of him, making his way through gnarled branches and roots, pushing back any plants that were in his way. “Now which way was the smoke coming from,” he murmurs to himself. He pauses a moment to look around the area, the flashlight barely lighting up where he was. _Great. I’m lost and probably nowhere near the crash site._ He brings out his phone and checks the time. It’s nearing 3:00. He sighs and puts the phone back in his jean pocket, using the flashlight to guide him again.

 

He continues walking for a few more minutes, when he’s hit with the overpowering scent of smoke. With a feral grin, Lance quickly trudges forward, the smell leading him to where the crash site is.

 

It leads him to a small clearing, where all there is is tall grass and wildflowers growing amuck. Toward the side, near the trees, is what Lance is looking for.

 

“No fuckin’ way,” Lance whispers, his eyes wide. He runs toward the ship with fervor, his breath coming out in short _huffs_. He pauses by the edge, taking in the site.

 

It’s a lot smaller than Lance had imagined it would be, considering it did shake his house (luckily his family is a bunch of rocks when sleeping). It’s a deep red—almost purple color, with a silvery lining. Engraved in a silvery font is a foreign language that Lance doesn’t recognize. The front of the ship has a glass viewing panel, that seems to be fogged up. The ship is almost… oval-ish, in a way. It almost doesn’t look like a ship. It almost looks like.

 

“An escape pod?” Lance hums to himself. He shines the flashlight into the pod, trying to see through the fogged up window. He can’t see much, but he does see the outline of… something in there. “Shit,” Lance hisses. He quickly drops the flashlight and tries of pry open the pod with his hands. It doesn’t budge at all, so Lance grabs his flashlight and tries to search for any sort of rock that could possibly break the glass.

 

He finds a reasonably sized one a little bit away from the ship and heaves it up with both hands, tucking the flashlight under his armpit. He wheezes when he walks (basically waddles) back over to the pod. “Alright, Mr. Alien,” he murmurs, “Let’s see what you look like.” He lifts the rock over his head and brings it down to smash the glass. But, before he can, the pod opens with a _hisss_. Smoke comes slithering out of the pod, making Lance drop the rock to the side and cough. He covers up his mouth with his hand and attempts to wave the smoke away.

 

Slowly, the air clears and he can see more and more of what kind of alien he had managed to find.

 

It’s a… human?

 

Lance frowns, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What the hell and fuck?” he whispers.

 

The guy just looks like a regular human. He has regular colored human skin, hair, hands, feet. It isn’t an alien. There’s no green skin, buggy eyes. No antennae, no webbed hands or feet. This thing is just a human. But…

 

“Why are you in a space pod,” Lance mutters to himself. He looks around the clearing, making sure there is no one lurking around or watching him. He sticks the flashlight in his pants and attempts to pull the guy out of the pod without hurting him. When he’s met with little resistance, Lance grins. Looks like the guy is knocked out cold. He huffs when he gets the guy fully out of the pod, and yelps when the full weight of the body is pushed onto him. He falls to the ground with a _thunk_ and grumbles under his breath.

 

When he finally has control of the guy’s body and where he’s going, Lance drags him toward the forest.

 

“God I hope no one is awake,” Lance groans. “This would be the perfect story. ‘Oh hey, ma. Yeah, I know. Well, I found this guy in a space pod that fell from the sky and I was just wondering if maybe he could crash at our place for a few days? No biggie, right?' She would fuckin’ _murder_ me.” _But she would probably also adopt this poor dude in a heartbeat._

 

Once he reaches his house, he quietly opens the door and looks around, making sure there’s no awaken stragglers. He huffs out another breath as he starts up the stairs, space dude in tow. “Why is his outfit so bulky,” Lance wheezes, using all of his strength to tug the guy up the last few steps.

 

Lance swiftly and quietly kicks open the door to his room and practically throws the space guy onto his bed. But he kind of miscalculates his trajectory and the guy’s bottom half is slowly sliding down onto the floor. Lance yelps and grabs the guy’s legs to put him fully on the bed. He shifts him around so he’s comfortably laid on his bed.

 

Lance sets his hands on his hips, breathing heavily. He’s sweating buckets; he’s pretty sure he has some mad B.O. He’s like 99 percent sure he has a multitude of leaves and twigs stuck in his hair. He stares down at the guy for a few more seconds and nods his head.

 

“Right,” he says to no one. “A space pod crash landed near my house and I brought a space man into my home where my family is sleeping.” He looked to his door, where his long mirror hangs. He looks at himself, sweaty and disheveled. He was right; he does have twigs in his hair and his face is dirty and looks kinda gross. He looks back down at the man in his bed. “A space man is in my bed,” he murmurs. He looks up at his ceiling, where numerous glow-in-the-dark stars are stuck. “There’s a space man in my bed.” Suddenly, he grins, his face showing pure excitement. “There’s a _space man in my bed_!”

 

Lance rushes over to his desk and grabs his camera. “Pidge is gonna shit their fuck when they hear this,” he laughs. “Holy fucking shit okay.” He turns the camera on. “Let’s do this.”

 

\--

 

Lance wakes up with a stranger in his bed. Normally, he would make a joke saying, “Was last night as good for you as it was for me?” or something like that, but the memories of the previous night come flooding into his mind and he shoots up from his laying position to look down at the person… human?... alien? At this point, Lance wouldn’t be surprised if the person was actually a robot.

 

In the dark of the early morning, Lance couldn’t really see much of the person’s features, but in the bright, early afternoon sun, he can clearly see pale skin littered with a constellation of moles. The man’s eyes are closed—Lance checks his pulse to make sure he’s still alive (he is)—and his cheeks are framed by the longest lashes Lance has ever seen on a person before. Lance looks down to observe what exactly the guy is wearing. It looks like some sorts of combative armor, but it’s practically skin-tight to where it leaves nothing to the imagination. Lance flushes and looks back at the man’s face, only to be met face-to-face with dark, purple eyes.

 

Next thing Lance knows; he’s being punched in the face by a very beautiful space man.

 

“Ow! What the _shit_!” Lance hollers. He yelps when the space man grabs at his shirt and practically _throws_ him onto the bed, leaning over him. His eyes glint murderously.

 

“Who are you and where the hell am I?” Space Guy snarls. He’s practically nose to nose with Lance.

 

Lance holds up his hands in surrender. “O-okay, buddy! Let’s calm down now… there’s no need to get _violent_ here!” Lance’s eye throbs and he winces. Boy, that’s gonna be fun to explain to his mother.

 

Space Guy shakes him. “Who. The _hell_. Are you.”

 

“Lance! I’m—I’m Lance! I found you!” Lance feels his hands shake. Being murdered by an angry space man was _not_ on his agenda for the day.

 

“Where,” the guy demands darkly.

 

“In the woods! Behind my house!”

 

The guy’s eyebrows furrow momentarily, as if he’s confused by what Lance said. But then he shoots a glare at Lance. “Where are we?”

 

“N-Nevada!”

 

The guy tilts his head. “What is. A… Nevada?”

 

Lance’s eyebrows shoot up. “It’s… It’s a state. In America.”

 

Space Guy purses his lips, eye narrowing. “And where is… this… America?”

 

 _What the fuck._ “It’s… in the northern hemisphere?”

 

“Of what.”

 

“Earth?”

 

The guy releases him and Lance scrambles to get out of his bubble. “Look, dude, I promise you, I don’t mean any harm—”

 

“Tell me everything, Lance of Earth.” Space Guy looks over at him and gives a demanding glare. “Tell me everything, and perhaps I will spare you.”

 

“Gee, thanks,” Lance deadpans. His eyes widen when Space Guy takes out some sort of weapon. It looks like a large, red sword and it doesn’t look like he has the best intentions holding it. “O-okay! I’ll tell you whatever you need to know… uh…”

 

Space Guy puts away his sword. “KE-2974.”

 

“Wh—”

 

“I assumed you were wanting to know my name?” KE-whatever raises an eyebrow. “That is my name. KE-2974.”

 

Lance frowns, utterly confused. “That’s not a name.”

 

KE-2974 shrugs. “That is all I have ever been called. Where I come from, the only true name we know is Zarkon.”

 

“Zar-who?”

 

“Zarkon.” KE-2974 (he should _really_ reconsider a name change, damn) glowers, his features turning dark. “He’s a merciless ruler who will destroy anyone in his way to glory. He’s murdered millions, just for the sake of power.” Lance notices the way his nails are digging into his skin. “He’s a tyrant.”

 

Lance gulps and blinks at him. “O-okay, so—uh, KE-24601—”

 

“2971,” he corrects.

 

“Yeah, whatever. Look.” Lance frowns. “I don’t really know what’s going on here. All I know is that you crash landed near my house and I dragged you here before anyone else could find you and possibly use you for scientific experiments, okay?” Then he adds, “Also, that name you have? It’s terrible. And maybe next time, you should ask questions _before_ attacking someone! Shit, my eye is gonna be swollen for _weeks_.” He gingerly touches his throbbing eye and hisses. “ _Damn_ that hurts.”

 

KE-2971 frowns. “You were too close to me and were observing me uncomfortably. I felt it was necessary to engage in combat.”

 

“No… no it wasn’t. Look, it’s not every day that a space man literally crashes into my life, alright?”

 

The other hums. “As for my name, there’s nothing I can really do about that.”

 

“Sure you can. Look, I’ll give you a name right now.” Lance brings his hand up to his chin and taps at it, peering intently at the space man sitting on his bed. He hums inquisitively. “Let’s see. KE-2971. If we scrap the numbers, it’s KE. How about … Kenny!”

 

Kenny grimaces. “I don’t like that.”

 

Lance shakes his head. “Yeah, Kenny sucks. Let’s see… um… Kevin.” Lance nods. “I know a few Kevins. They’re cool.”

 

Kevin frowns even harder. “Kevin does not sound pleasing.”

 

“Well, what can ya do, Kevin! I don’t have a lot to go with, here! Sheesh. So picky.” Lance sighs. Then, “Ah! Keith! How about that one! There’s not a lot of KE names, so this might be your only other option. Choose wisely, bud.”

 

Keith murmurs the name under his breath, as if testing how it felt on his tongue. He hums, then nods his head. “It is acceptable.”

 

Lance claps his hands together. “Great! Now, Keith, why don’t you tell me where you’re from.”

 

Keith frowns. “I’m from the planetary system Alpha Delta 997235—”

 

“So you’re an alien, right?” Lance’s eyes sparkles. His grin widens and he leans in close to Keith. “You’re… not from Earth, right?”

 

“Of course I am not from Earth. I am from the planetary system Alpha Delt—”

 

Lance whoops. “Yes! _Yes!_ I knew it! I _knew_ aliens existed!” He does a little dance and laughs. “Pidge is going to lose their fuckin’ _mind_ when they find out!”

 

“Lance of Earth,” Keith says. He stands up. “I request that you take me back to my ship. I must attend to it to make sure there are no serious damages.”

 

Lance hums. “Yeah, okay.” He goes over to his door and opens it a peak. The house is quiet. “I guess everyone left,” he says to himself. “Alright.” He turns to Keith. “It looks like my family is gone for right now, which is good. It means I can sneak you out easier.” He looks over Keith’s tattered clothes. “Before I take you to your ship, we need to get you into some regular clothes.”

 

Keith frowns and looks down at his armor. “What is wrong with this?”

 

Lance rolls his eyes. “Dude, you’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb if you wear that. Here,” He walks over to his drawers and pulls out a shirt and pants. “You can wear these for right now. You look like you have the same sized feet as me, so you can borrow any of my shoes.” He hands the clothes to Keith. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready to go.”

 

Lance heads downstairs after unplugging is phone from where it was charging. He checks his notifications to see a line of texts from Pidge and Hunk in the group chat.

 

**Ghost Adventures: Pidge Edition (3 members)**

**pidgeon (10:34): are we still down for lunch @ shiro’s ?**

**hunkules (10:40): yeh, i asked for work off today, so i should be good :)**

**pidgeon (10:40): hopefully lance wakes his lazy ass up before 12 so we don’t have to wait 10 yrs to eat**

**hunkules (10:41): youre asking for a miracle my dude**

Lance frowns. What shitty friends he has.

 

**lance THE MAN (12:30): you are both dead to me**

**pidgeon (12:31): wow youre up earlier than i thought you would be**

**pidgeon (12:31): that impressive**

**pidgeon (12:31): im proud of you lance**

**lance THE MAN (12:32): fuck you pidgey**

**pidgeon (12:32): call me a shitty ass pokemon name again and youre dead**

**hunkules (12:32): o shit run hoe**

Lance glances up from his phone when he sees Keith walking down the stairs.

 

“I’m ready,” Keith says. “Please take me to my ship, now.”

 

Lance waves a dismissive hand. “Yeah, yeah. I got ya. Let’s go.” He types a quick text to the group chat before tucking his phone back into his pants.

 

**lance THE MAN (12:33): actually guys i wont be able to make it today :( something has come up. have fun w/o me**

“So, Keith,” Lance starts. “Tell me a little bit about yourself.” He leads them into the forest, trying to remember where it was Keith’s ship crashed. “Who are you? Where are you from? All that jazz.”

 

Keith glances over at Lance. “I’m KE-29—Keith—and…” He frowns. “I don’t really have a place to call ‘home’.”

 

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

 

Keith huffs. “My people… the Galra. We’re an interesting sort of race. From the moment we are born, we are trained to be soldiers. We are put through an extensive training regime which requires the upmost physical and mental strength. We are taught from a very young age what it is to fight.” He draws his hands into fists. “We are told that other races are weak. Useless. We are supposed to be merciless and fight with one goal in mind.”

 

Lance gulps. “And what is that?”

 

Keith meets his gaze. “Death.”

 

“Oh.”

 

It’s quiet for a few minutes before Keith continues. “But I… I never wanted that. I never wanted to fight or kill. But I did, anyway. If only to save myself from being killed as well. You see, those who don’t make it through the training or are insubordinate. They… get punished.”

 

“And I’m assuming the punishment is…”

 

“Death.”

 

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

 

Keith glares at him, so Lance shuts up. “Finally, I finished the training to become a soldier for Zarkon’s army—”

 

“You said Zarkon was like… this big bad guy, right?” Lance pushes past a bunch of braches that are in their way.

 

Keith nods. “Yes. He is the overlord of the Galra. We all answer to him.”

 

“But… why does Zarkon want this? What is his purpose?”

 

Keith grimaces. “Power. That’s all he desires. He’s killed millions of people, slaughtered innocent families and destroyed planets. All for the glory of ruling all.” He looks down, his eyes flashing in anger. “He’s power hungry. No planet or civilization is safe. Not even Earth.”

 

Lance doesn’t say anything, so Keith continues. “But I didn’t want to kill anyone for Zarkon’s sake. So I planned my escape. During the night, I snuck out and stole an escape pod. But I wasn’t stealthy enough and a fleet of ships attacked. I only barely made it out by engaging light speed.” He looks around. “I must have crashed here after that.”

 

Lance hums. He was surprised at how well he was taking everything, honestly. A power-hungry alien overlord is out in space somewhere and he might attack Earth at some point? That’s fine. This is fine.

 

“Are we nearing my ship?” Keith wonders.

 

“Yeah. It should be in this clearing up ahead.” Lance pushes back some tall plants and reveals the clearing from last night. He gestures over to where Keith’s ship is, which is looking worse for wear.

 

When they reach the ship, Keith hops into the pilot chamber and attempts to turn it on. Lights lining the edges of the ship flicker on and off for a few seconds, and at first it seems like the ship will work. But suddenly, it sputters and jerks, throwing Keith to the side and coughing out more smoke.

 

Lance covers his mouth with his hand and waves away the fumes. “I’m guessing that’s not good?” he offers.

 

Keith sighs. “It looks like the main engine is ruptured.” He hops out of the ship and heads toward the back and opens up a latch. He grimaces at the sight. “I’m afraid without the proper tools and care, my ship will not be able to work.” He looks up at Lance. “It seems that I am stuck here until I can find someone to fix my ship.”

 

Lance frowns and bites his lip. He hums and looks around. “Okay. Well, we’ll worry about that later. Right now, we need to worry about getting your ship out of sight.” He spots a heavily shaded area near the edge of the clearing. “Over there,” he says, motioning toward the spot. “If we can like… push it or something, we can hide it there for the time being. No one really trudges out into these woods, so it should be okay until we think of something.”

 

Keith frowns. “How do you plan on pushing it? This ship weighs at least a hundred times more than you.”

 

Lance gives a shy grin. “Sheer determination, I guess?” He shrugs. “I dunno. I was kind of hoping you would have some sort of super-strength or something.” He gives Keith a once-over. “But really, you don’t seem very alien like. You look really… human.”

 

Keith sighs and looks to the side. “This isn’t… my real form. I have the technology that allows me to use a sort of glamour. To hide what I really look like.” He looks at the ship. “The ship must have calculated where we were going to hit and transformed me to look like that .”

 

“Smart ship,” Lance mutters.

 

“If I were to transform into my regular form, I would be able to move the ship with little resistance.”

 

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Then what’s the holdup?”

 

Keith crosses his arms over his chest defensively. “I don’t really… enjoy looking like an entire species of murderers and thieves.”

 

Lance sighs. “Well, we gotta move it somehow. If somebody else finds your ship, who _knows_ what will happen? A media outbreak? A government shutdown? Hell, an all-out _war_ could happen. I’ve seen enough science fiction movies to know where this leads.” He gives Keith a pitying gaze. “We need to move it soon.” At Keith’s hesitant gaze, he gives a small smile. “Hey, don’t worry. I won’t freak out or nothin’. You can trust me.”

 

Keith bites his lip and closes his eyes. “Fine.” He pulls out something that kind of looks like a watch and presses a button on it. Suddenly, it’s as if his entire DNA structure is changing. Keith gets taller—he practically _towers_ over Lance (Lance barely makes it past his shoulders). His skin shifts and becomes a lilac purple, and his eyes turn a bright yellow. His teeth grow larger and pointer and his hair gets a bit shorter and turns a dark purple as well. Lance chooses not to question how his clothes still fit Keith despite him being as tall as a pro basketball player.

 

When the transformation is complete, Lance takes a moment to breathe before saying, “Well, I can tell you, I’ve thought long and hard about what an alien would look like. And lemme tell you, this is not it.”

 

Keith grimaces down at his purple skin. “It’s hideous. I know.”

 

Lance hums and tilts his head. “No. Not hideous. Just… interesting. Yeah.” He grins. “Real neat.” He ignores Keith’s surprised face and the blush that seems to appears on his face (Lance can’t really tell due to the purple skin) and claps his hands together. “Alright, now, move the ship.”

 

Once the ship is safely hidden, Keith puts on his glamour again, sighing contently when he looks at his pale skin. He looks up at Lance. “Thank you,” he says.

 

Lance raises an eyebrow. “For what? You were the one who moved the ship.”

 

Keith smiles gently, his eyes sparkling. “For not being afraid of me.”

 

Lance barks out a laugh. “Dude, you’ve never seen my mom when she’s angry. Trust me, it takes a lot to scare me.” He links an arm around Keith’s shoulder, much to the other’s surprise. “You? Nah. You looked kinda like a puppy. A big, purple puppy.”

 

Keith frowns. “I do not appreciate that comparison.”

 

“Too bad. It’s stuck, now.” He claps Keith on the back, making the other jolt forward. “Now, let’s get you back to my place. I’m starving.”

 

\--

 

Unfortunately, when they arrive back at Lance’s home, they are greeted with the sight of Lance’s mother giving them stern looks from the front door. “And just where were you, young man?” she huffs.

 

“ _Mierda_ ,” Lance hisses. Keith sends a surprised look his way. Lance sighs. “Look, lemme handle this, okay?” He gives a worried smile and sends a beaming look his mother’s way. “ _Madre!_ ” He walks up and kisses her cheek. “How are you this fine morning? And may I say, you look radiant and beautiful as always.” He gives an innocent smile.

 

His mother’s glare doesn’t deter, but Lance sees the way the corner of her mouth twitches slightly upwards. “It’s afternoon, you troublesome boy! I came home and you were nowhere to be seen! You had disappeared! Gone, without a single note or anything!” She frowns. “I was worried, _Hijo_.” She grabs at his face. “And what is this! Did you get into a fight again, stupid!?” She pokes at Lance’s black eye, making him hiss.

 

“Mom, that hurts!”

 

She glares at him. “You have no right telling me what hurts! I was near in tears when I couldn’t find you! I was about ready to call 911!”

 

Lance pouts, his heart breaking. He hates making his mother worry. “I’m sorry, _Madre_ , but I was just showing my friend, Keith, around the forest.” He motions toward Keith, who gives a shy wave. “I didn’t think I would be gone so long.” He bats his eyelashes innocently. “Can you ever forgive me?”

 

His mother sighs and rolls her eyes, a smile creeping on her face. “You know I can’t stay mad at you for long. But you better at least give me a warning of some kind, young man!” she scolds.

 

Lance sends up his hands as a gesture of surrender. “Of course, my wonderful mother. Of course.”

 

She makes a strangled sounds and mutters something like, _‘stupid child whom I love’_ under her breath before training her gaze on Keith. “Oh! How rude of me!” She practically plows Lance over to make her way over to Keith. “I’ve spent this whole time chastising my idiot child that I didn’t even introduce myself.” She gives a warm smile. “My name is Camila! I am Lance’s mother. And you are?”

 

Keith gives a shy smile. “I’m… uh… Keith.”

 

“Ah!” She grins fully. “It’s so wonderful to meet you!” She frowns a bit, then. “But it’s strange that I have yet to meet you until now. Usually, I know all of Lance’s friends…” She looks over at Lance quickly. “How did you meet?”

 

Keith sends Lance a panicked look and frantically looks back at Camila. “We… uh. He—”

 

“He’s my pen pal!” Lance blurts out. He immediately regrets it because _stupid you don’t have a fucking pen pal._

Camila’s eyebrows shoot up. “Pen pal?” she echoes. “I didn’t know you had a pen pal?”

 

Lance huffs and tries to remedy his stupid mistake. “It—It was a thing for school. Like, talk to someone from… another. Place. For uh… Lit.”

 

“Ooooh.” Camila doesn’t look fully convinced.

 

Lance gives a warbled smile. “Yeah, uh, so we were paired up together and… just kept talking I guess? Yeah. Is it alright if he stays here for a little while?”

 

Camila purses her lips, her eyebrows furrowed. “And just where is he supposed to sleep, _genio_? There’s no available rooms. We can’t have him sleep on the couch, that would be completely rude.”

 

“He can sleep in my room!” Lance offers. “My room is big enough for both of us. We’ll be fine!” He clasps his hands together and gives a pleading look. “Please, mom. _Please_?”

 

Camila sighs, her features softening, and Lance knows he won the battle. His mother just can’t turn away a soul in need. “Alright,” she mutters, and Lance grins. “But I want to speak to Keith’s mother before you two get comfortable!”

 

Lance’s eyes widen, and panic strikes him. “Ah—”

 

“My parents are dead,” Keith offers solemnly. “I’ve been living on my own for a while, now.”

 

Immediately, Camila’s features contort and the next thing Lance knows, Keith is being smothered by his mother. “Oh, you poor child!” she cries. “Living on your own for so long! Without a mother’s care? You poor dear!” She cradles Keith’s head in her hands. “Don’t you worry a thing! You can stay here as long as you like, alright! No worries!” She leans up and kisses Keith’s cheeks, which are warming considerably. “My home is your home!” She then frowns and grabs at Keith’s wrist. “You are so bony, _mi hijo_! Come inside, and I’ll make you something!” She ushers Keith inside and turns to Lance. “Why don’t you set out some towels for Keith to use after a shower! The poor thing looks like he hasn’t been fully cleansed in _days_!”

 

“He _smells_ like it too,” Lance grumbles, but shuts his mouth when Camila sends him a nasty glare. He sighs and waves her off. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get everything situated.”

 

 --

 

After Keith’s much needed shower and lunch provided by Camila, he and Lance find themselves back in Lance’s room. Keith is perched on the edge of the bed while Lance stands across from him, his feet apart, arms crossed, and posture straight. “Alright,” he says. “We need to figure out what to do with you.”

 

Keith’s eyes widen. “What?”

 

“You have no clothes and no real story to bullshit your way through. We need to think. What are we going to do…” Lance hums to himself.

 

“Ah… Lance…” Lance looks over at Keith, who is _not_ looking at him, and is instead gazing at his _Rocky Horror Picture Show_ poster. “I would… appreciate it if you did not reveal my identity to anyone. Not this ‘Hunk Pidge’ person you were talking about. Not your mother. No one.” He gives Lance a hard stare. “As far as anyone is concerned, I’m your pen pal.”

 

Lance grimaces. He was kind of hoping he’d be able to rub in the fact that he found an alien in Pidge’s face, but— “Yeah, okay,” Lance sighs. “It’ll be our little secret.” He winks. “Anyway, let’s get started on your story.”

 

Keith frowned. “I thought I was an orphan?”

 

“Well, yeah. We’ve got that part, but what if someone asks where you live? What if they ask when your parents died, or where you were born? You have to be able to answer these kinds of questions.”

 

Keith nodded. “I see.”

 

“Alright, let’s start with where you were born… Hm…” He peers at Keith. “New York. You’re too pale to be born anywhere else.” Keith makes a displeased noise, but Lance continues. “Your parents died when you were a child. You were in an orphanage until you turned 18. Now you live on your own. Bam.” Lance grins. “I’m a genius.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Alright, now, are we done?”

 

“No, stupid. We have to think about what you’re going to do about clothes. And _no_ —” He glares at Keith opening his mouth. “You can’t just borrow my clothes all the time. That’ll be too… weird. And gay.”

 

Keith tilts his head. “Gay? What is… ‘gay’?”

 

Lance sputters, flushing a bit. “It’s, like… when a guy like a guy. Or a girl likes a girl. Like that.” He gives a small grin.

 

“You have a term for that in your world?” Keith frowns. “That just seems normal.”

 

“Are there not... straight aliens?” Lance wonders.

 

Keith rolls his eyes again. “No, _stupid_.” Lance squawks at the use of his own insult. “I’m not sure about other races, but the Galra have no concept of sexuality or gender.”

 

“So… if there’s no concept of gender in your race,” Lance muses. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

 

Keith frowns. “I’m an alien.”

 

“Yeah, but like…”

 

“Lance.” Keith glares at him. “There’s no binary of gender in my race. I’m not a boy or a girl. I’m just KE-2974… I mean. Keith. I am simply Keith.”

 

“Huh. Sounds like Pidge, then,” Lance hums. “Well, Simply Keith. That’s interesting. Oh uh…” Lance flushes a little. “Do you care if I call you ‘he’? Or is that a no?”

 

Keith tilts his head. “I don’t care.”

 

Lance huffs out a sigh. “Okay, cool.” He pauses before saying, “So, like, you’d do it with a dude, then?”

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “I fail to see how this is making progress of me being integrated into your society.”

 

“Ooh look at you, using big words,” Lance coos.

 

Keith scowls. “Are you always this obnoxious?”

 

Lance shrugs and grins. “Pretty much.” He plops himself down next to Keith. “I guess I can tell my mom that the airport lost your luggage, so you have no clothes. Maybe she’ll let us use her credit card to pay for your clothes.”

 

“It’s not nice to lie to your mother, Lance.” Keith frowns. “She’s already been quite hospitable to me; I don’t want her to make too many sacrifices for my sake.”

 

Lance rolls his eyes. “Dude, my mom could care less. You could ask her to murder me for the sake of your happiness and she would probably do it.” He sends Keith a warning glare. “But don’t do that. Don’t have her murder me. Don’t go trying to steal my mother, Keith.”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Keith deadpans.

 

Lance sighs. “Well, if you’re not gonna go along with asking my mom, I guess I can break out my secret stash of cash.” He frowns. “I _was_ gonna buy a PS4 with that money, but I guess this is _kind of_ more important.” He heads over to his closet and starts digging around for his jar of money.

 

“Lance?” Keith asks from his place on the bed.

 

Lance hums. “Yeah? Just… gimme a second. Hold on…” He frowns. “No fuckin’ light in this shitty fuckin’—Here it is!” He pulls out a jar full of dollar bills and change. “There _should_ be enough in here to buy you some clothes and shoes that’ll last.” He notices Keith’s solemn expression. “What’s wrong?”

 

Keith frowns and looks away from Lance. “Does… my… ‘gayness’ offend you?”

 

“Does… your… what?” Lance whispers.

 

“Does my… gayness… offend you?” Keith looks _genuinely_ worried.

 

Lance blinks at him owlishly before bursting into a fit of laughter. “Oh my God! Oh my—Jesus!” He cackles and sets the jar on the ground. “Oh my God hahahahaha!” He slinks over to Keith and wraps an arm around his shoulder. “Dude,” he says through laughter. “I’m the gayest person you’ll ever meet. Trust me.”

 

Keith gapes at him in surprise. “Really?”

 

“Ah, well—” Lance gives a sheepish grin. “I like girls too. Boys and girls. And anyone in between. Really, I just like everyone.” He shrugs. “I’ve dated girls, I’ve dated guys. It doesn’t really matter to me.” He gives Keith’s shoulder a friendly pat. “So you don’t have to worry, my man. Your alien gayness doesn’t matter to me.”

 

“Oh…” Keith looks down and to the side, smiling slightly. His cheeks are flushed a nice pink. “That’s nice to know.”

 

“Come on!” Lance grins. “Let’s go get you some clothes.” He grabs the jar of money and Keith’s wrist and pulls him downstairs. “Lemme just get my truck ready. It takes a few minutes to get cooled down, plus it’s toward the back of the house.” He nudges Keith toward the front door. “I’ll come around front to pick you up. Just wait for me.”

 

Keith nods and Lance heads toward the kitchen, where his mother is washing dishes. “I’m gonna go show Keith around town, okay?” he says.

 

Camila nods. “That’s fine. Be home for dinner, alright? Oh!” She catches Lance’s attention before he can leave. “Is Keith allergic to anything? I don’t want to make him something he can’t eat.” She gives a worried look.

 

Lance tilts his head, thinking. “I don’t… think so?” _Do aliens even have allergies?_ “Just… make whatever. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.” He gives a small grin. “I’ll be back later! _Adiós!_ ” He grabs his keys from the counter and heads out back, getting his truck started. Once it’s ready, he pulls out front and honks the horn at Keith, who is sitting on the front steps, waiting. Keith perks up when he sees Lance.

 

Lance grins and rolls down his window. “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

 

\--

 

The shopping trip is a semi-success. Lance had underestimated just how much money he had saved, so there was plenty of leftover money to spend. They end up getting Keith enough clothes to last a month without doing laundry (but knowing Lance’s mother, she would never let that happen). After clothes shopping, Lance takes Keith around the downtown area, showing him the different places to eat and the general hang-out areas. It’s when they’re walking along in the mall that everything turns awry.

 

“Lance!” Lance whips his head up, breaking off mid-sentence in his conversation with Keith. His eyes widen as he sees Pidge and Hunk jogging toward them.

 

“Shit! Shit, shit!” Lance hisses. “Okay, Keith. Stay calm. Stay calm.”

 

Keith gives him a strange look. “I am calm.”

 

“Pidge! Hunk! H..ey!” Lance breathes. “How’s it going!”

 

Pidge glares at him. “What was so important that you couldn’t hang out with us today? I hope it wasn’t just because you were too lazy to get your ass out of bed at a decent time.” They smirk. “Were you up late again last night updating your blog?”

 

Lance sputters. “You know what _Pidge_! I’ll have you know I was _very busy_ and up late because I found an al—” Keith elbows him in the side, hard. He wheezes. “Alligator! I found an alligator,” he breathes out. He sends a glare Keith’s way, but Keith ignores it.

 

“An alligator,” Pidge says, unimpressed. “You do realize they’re not native to this region, right?”

 

“Well tell that to the alligator I saw, alright, Pidge!” Lance huffs. “Maybe it got lost! Who knows!”

 

Pidge rolls their eyes, meeting Keith’s gaze. “Anyway, Lance. Who’s this?” They peer questionably at Keith.

 

“Ah…” Lance stutters. “This is Keith. He’s my. Pen pal.” He internally winces at how stupid that sounds. Because he and everyone know that Lance would _never get a pen pal._ He gestures to Pidge and Hunk. “Keith. These are my only two friends. Pidge and Hunk. They kinda suck, but whatever.”

 

Keith makes an ‘o’ shape with his mouth. “I did not realize they were two different people. I assumed you were friends with a hunky person named Pidge.”

 

Pidge raises an eyebrow. They turn to Lance. “You have a pen pal?”

 

Lance scowls. “What? Is that so hard to believe?”

 

“Considering you? Definitely.”

 

Lance flips Pidge off. Keith looks at his finger curiously. “This is why Hunk is my favorite.”

 

Hunk beams from behind Pidge. “I love you too, Lance.”

 

“I’m just wondering how we have never heard of you having a pen pal before, Lance,” Pidge hums, still observing Keith closely. Keith shuffles closer to Lance, grabbing onto the hem of his shirt.

 

“Not everything in my life revolves around you, Pidge,” Lance snorts.

 

“That’s funny. I thought it did.”

 

Lance sticks out his tongue. “Don’t you have dust particles to be catching?”

 

Pidge glares at him. “Don’t _you_ have aliens to be hunting? Or have you finally realized they don’t exist?” They smirk when Lance sputters out a ‘fuck you.’ They grin. “Whatever. Me and Hunk were about to catch a movie, do you guy wanna join?” Their gaze flits over to Keith, meeting his eyes. Keith looks away.

 

Lance shakes his head. “Nah. I promise Mom we’d get home by dinner.”

 

Pidge hums. “Alright,” they say. “See you soon, Lance. Keith.” Keith jolts at the sound of his name. Pidge smiles warmly. “It was nice meeting you.”

 

Keith looks away, flushing. “It was nice to meet you… as well,” he murmurs.

 

Hunks backs away, following Pidge. “Buy dudes! Text you later, Lance!” He waves goodbye and trails after Pidge.

 

When they’re both out of sight, Lance exhales a sigh. “I’m sorry. Pidge can be… Pidge.” He gives a bright grin to Keith. “Come on, let’s get home before my mom skins me alive for being late.”

 

\--

 

Later that night, Lance receives a text from the group chat.

 

**The Gentle Smile of Hunk (3 members)**

**pidgeon (10:12): so keith seems nice**

**pidgeon (10:12): kinda quiet tho**

**lance THE MAN (10:13): its prob b/c you scared him w/ ur weird staring**

**pidgeon (10:14): i wasn’t staring. i was observing**

**pidgeon (10:14): those are two completely diff things**

**lance THE MAN (10:15): im rolling my eyes so hard rn u wont even believe**

**lance THE MAN (10:16): nah but really pidge lay off the creepy staring keith is sensitive like a little rabbit**

**pidgeon (10:17): whatever. Ur weird**

**lance THE MAN (10:17): why are u so mean to me**

**pidgeon (10:18): b/c u deserve it**

Lance looks up when he feels Keith’s gaze on him. He raises an eyebrow curiously. “You okay?”

 

Keith frowns. “I was just wondering… are you bilingual?”

 

“Ah… yeah.” Lance scratches at his cheek and gives a shy grin. “I’m Latino. So I’m able to speak Spanish fluently.” He frowns, his eyebrows furrowing. “How did you know?”

 

Keith’s lips quirk up into a sweet smile, making Lance’s heart race just a little bit. “You tend to speak to your mom in Spanish. Plus, you cursed in it.”

 

“Oh.” Lance chuckles. “Yeah, we mostly speak Spanish around the house, unless there’s a guest or something. And, I got the cursing thing from my dad. He does that a lot.”

 

Keith gapes. “Ah. I haven’t met your father, yet.” 

 

Lance shrugs. “Yeah, he’s not around a lot. His work requires that he travels quite often.”

 

Keith frowns. “That’s no good.”

 

Another shrug. “I know he’s doing it with our best intentions in mind.” Lance grins. “Besides, when he is here, it’s fun. Great. Always a party.”

 

Keith hums and nods. “I see.”

 

Lance frowns a bit. “By the way, how is it that when you woke up, you had no idea where you were, yet you were able to speak English?”

 

“Ah!” Keith lights up. “My translator.” He points at a thin choker-like jewelry around his neck. _How have I not noticed that before?_ “I can understand and speak over ten million languages with it.”

 

Lance’s eyebrows shoot up. “Ten million? There’s not _that many_ languages, is there?”

 

The corners of Keith’s lips peaked up. “Of course there are. All over the universe. There’s millions of races of life out there, Lance. You’re thinking inside your own bubble, Lance.”

 

Lance blushes, but smiles nonetheless. “So… are you speaking an alien language right now?”

 

Keith nods. “Technically, yes. But to you, it’s regular English.”

 

Lance grins fully, his face lighting up. “That’s so cool!”

 

Keith blinks at Lance, his eyes wide. “Oh…” he murmurs, flushing red. He looks to the side and smiles warmly. “Thank you.”

 

\--

 

Lance is typing up a post on his blog when Keith pops up being him and says, “What’s that?”

 

Lance nearly flies in out of his chair with how quickly he jumps. “ _Qué chingados!”_ he curses, slamming his laptop shut. Distantly, he can hear his mother shriek out, “ _What the hell did you just say, young man?!”_ Lance swivels around a faces Keith. “Dude! What the hell!!”

 

Keith looks at him innocently, all doe eyed and naïve, and Lance inwardly curses Keith for being so cute. “What?”

 

“I thought you were napping!” Lance accuses, glaring at the bed, as if it were the cause of his near heart attack.

 

“I was, but I then I woke up.” Keith give a shy smile. “I didn’t want to disturb you because you seemed so into your work.” He looks to the side and flushes, scratching at his cheek. “But then I was getting restless, so I just decided to talk to you, and… yeah.”

 

Lance narrows his eyes. “Alright. But don’t go scaring me like that again!” He turns back to his laptop and opens it back up. “You nearly killed me, dude! Also, I’m pretty sure my mom is going to kick my ass for cursing just then.”

 

Keith’s eyebrows rise. “She could hear that? It wasn’t even that loud.”

 

Lance give him a very serious look. “My mother hears _everything_.”

 

Keith shivers. “That’s… unnerving.”

 

Lance snorts and brings back the article he was writing for his blog. “Tell me about it. Sometimes, it’s hard to get _any_ privacy around here. Luckily, she lets me lock my door so none of my siblings just barge in.”

 

“Ah.” Keith smiles. “I like your brothers and sisters.”

 

“They’re all tiny spawns of Satan,” Lance grumbles.

 

“Even tiny Rosa? She’s adorable though!” Keith coos.

 

Lance barks out a laugh and edits a misspelling error he made. “Yeah, I’m _sure_ you’ll be thinking that when she gets her hands onto _Madre’s_ makeup and decides that you’re the pretty princess she wants to decorate.” He looks over at Keith’s smirking face. “Oh, shut up.”

 

“I haven’t said anything!”

 

“I can read your,” Lance motions at Keith. “Face. It’s oozing with jackass-ery.”

 

Keith grins. “I just think it’s really cute how you let your little sister give you a makeover. It’s sweet.” He looks down at his hands and folds them together. Lance looks at his face, and he can’t help but think Keith looks a little sad. “I can tell how much you love her. Rosa. Her and all your family.” He looks up. “You love them very much.”

 

Lance purses his lips and nods. A small smile creeps onto his face. “Yeah. They’re great, despite being a pain in my ass.” He looks back to the screen and continues writing about The Ahool.

 

It’s been a full week since Keith literally crash landed into Lance’s life. So far, things were going off without a hitch. Lance’s mom absolutely _adores_ Keith, and has offered adopting him numerous times already. Keith has politely declined each time. Lance’s siblings seem to love Keith as well. Rosa took one look at Keith and immediately declared him “The Pretty Princess of the Castle.” Lance’s brothers constantly tell Lance how much cooler Keith is than him, to which Lance replies with a few choice curse words. Keith hasn’t met Lance’s dad yet, but Lance feels like they would get along too. In fact, everyone seems to _love_ Keith, which make Lance swell up with pride, for some reason.

 

Every day, they go to the clearing to make sure that the crashed pod is still there and in the same condition is was before. Luckily, no one has found their hidden spaceship.

 

Lance has yet to schedule a bonding time with Pidge, Hunk, and Keith, but eventually the three of them are going to have to hang out. It’s not like Lance can just abandon his friends—or Keith. So, he’s been working on a foolproof way to hang out with his friends and not have them learning any unnecessary secrets that Lance and Keith may be hiding.

 

After a few moments of silence, Keith chimes in, “What are you writing about?”

 

“The Ahool.” Lance keeps his eyes on the screen.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“It’s a cryptid.”

 

“A… A what?” Keith looks at him confusedly. “What’s a cryptid?”

 

Lance looks over and grins. “It’s like… a creature that hasn’t been proven yet. Like. Something people believe exist and have seen, but it hasn’t been proven to be real by scientists yet. Like an urban legend, kinda.”

 

Keith gaped. “Oooh. So, like, Sasquatch?”

 

Lance gives him a Look.

 

“I-I watched a lot of _Finding Bigfoot_ with your brother… uh… Abel…” Keith admits shyly, flushing a bit.

 

Lance shakes his head. “You shouldn’t watch that shit with Abel. He doesn’t know fuck about Bigfoot. Hell, even the hosts of the show don’t know shit about Bigfoot. They’re just doing all that stuff for the money and fame.” Lance frowned. “They don’t really care about finding him.”

 

“And you do?” Keith inquires.

 

Lance seems to perk up. “Of course!” He clicks out of the Word document he’s in and goes to his blog. “See? This is my blog. It’s where I post pictures and stories and opinions about the different cryptids that exists.” He clicks on a link that refers to a folder full of pictures in some kind of forest. “This is from my family trip a few years ago. We went camping in Washington.” He brings up a blurry picture of a dark figure somewhere in a forest. “This is really the only good picture I was able to get of him. It was really difficult to get too, since Bigfoot really didn’t stay long enough for me to get his close up.” He clicks on another picture, which shows a clear shot of some kind of animal track. “It had rained the previous night, so the ground was really soft. I tried to identify what kind of track it was, but I came up short.” Lance glances up at Keith and grins excitedly. “It’s Bigfoot.”

 

Keith snorts, trying to hide his smile. “Lance, I don’t really think—”

 

“Bigfoot,” Lance whispers, his eyes shining.

 

Keith laughs this time, full and breathy and Lance feels a weird tug on his chest. _Huh…_ “You really are something, Lance of Earth,” Keith huffs out, smiling.

 

Lance frowns. “I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Keith laughs, waving Lance off. “So, what’s your favorite… uh… what are they called again?”

 

“Cryptid?”

 

“Yeah! That.”

 

Lance hums, tapping his finger on his chin. “Let’s see. Well, Sasquatch is _really_ cool, but a lot of his sightings are just guys in gorilla suits, y’know? So… Hm…” He perks up. “Ah!” He goes to his browser and quickly types something up. “Here we go. The Flatwoods Monster.”

 

Keith quirks up an eyebrow. “It says there that it’s believed to be extraterrestrial.”

 

Lance grins up at him. “Isn’t it freaky looking?”

 

Keith huffs, shaking his head. “I can assure you, that… _thing_ does not exist.”

 

“You never know!”

 

“No. No, I do know.”

 

“It could be out there!”

 

“It’s not.”

 

Lance pouts, his lower lip jutting out. “Stop trying to crush my dreams, Keith.”

 

“I’m not trying to. I’m only trying to think logically.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever Mr. Spock,” Lance snorts and turns to his laptop.

 

“My name isn’t—”

 

“It’s a reference, smart one.”

 

Keith frowns. “A reference to… what… exactly?”

 

Lance frowns too. “ _Star Trek_?”

 

Keith tilts his head to the side. “What’s _Star Trek_?”

 

“ _What!_ ” Lance shrieks, abruptly standing up. “You’ve never seen _Star Trek?!”_

Keith blinks, surprised. “Well, I’m an alien. So, no.”

 

“Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot.” Lance chuckles. Keith frowns, but doesn’t say anything. “I’m gonna have to force you to watch it with me.” Lance gasps. “Wait! So if you haven’t seen _Star Trek_ , then _Star Wars_ is probably a foreign concept to you as well!”

 

“I… have never seen a star war,” Keith says.

 

Lance shakes his head, disappointed. “I swear; I’m going to have to catch you up on all of the pop culture of today. I’m surprised you made it this far without fucking up somehow.”

 

Keith glares at him. “Rude.”

 

Lance snorts and mocks, “ _Rude_.”

 

“Why are you like this. You are literally a child,” Keith murmurs, turning away to sit back on the bed.

 

Lance grins and leans back on his chair, glancing at Keith from over his shoulder. “Just the perks of having me as a friend! You should be thankful, Keith! That you were so lucky as to have _me_ be the one to find you after you crashed!”

 

It may have been his imagination, but Lance swears he hears Keith say in a small voice a few moments later, “Yeah. Guess I am lucky.”

 

\--

 

It was inevitable.

 

Lance wakes up one morning to a text from Pidge.

 

**The Wonders of Lance’s Sexuality (3 members)**

**pidgeon (11:14): so lance when are u gonna let us hang out w/ ur new boyfriend**

**pidgeon (11:14): i kinda feel like you don’t want us to hang out with him**

**pidgeon (11:15): if you’re afraid of us embarrassing you lemme just say that you have every right to be bc im gonna be sharing so many stories**

**pidgeon (11:16): so many stories lance**

**pidgeon (11:16): so many**

**hunkules (11:19): actually i’d like to meet with keith again too! he seems pretty chill**

**pidgeon (11:19): HA! Hunk wants to hang w him im sorry lance but you lose this round**

**pidgeon (11:20): no one can resist hunk when he truly wants something. No one**

**pidgeon (11:20): not even u lance**

**lance THE MAN (11:21): fuck u right**

**lance THE MAN (11:22): UGHHHHHH fine… I guess we can… have lunch or smthing**

**pidgeon (11:23): YESSSSSSSS**

**pidgeon (11:23): also… noted that u did not deny that keith is ur boyfriend**

**pidgeon (11:24): let it be said…on the record. Lance has a bf**

**hunkules (11:25): GASSSSSSP**

Lance flushes a fierce red and glances at Keith, who is still sleeping soundly. He hastily types out a response.

 

**lance THE MAN (11:27): HES NTO MY FUCKINSG BOYFRIEDN**

**pidgeon (11:27): ohohoho?**

**hunkules (11:27): ohoho…**

**lance THE MAN (11:28): don’t you bastards ohoho me**

**lance THE MAN (11:29): look, seriously tho. keith isn’t my bf**

**lance THE MAN (11:29): we’re just friends**

**lance THE MAN (11:30): plus, keith isn’t even a boy**

**pidgeon (11:31): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**lance THE MAN (11:32): hes nb**

**pidgeon (11:32): OH MY GOD FINALLY**

**pidgeon (11:32): FINALLY…. THERES ANOTHER NB FRIEND**

**pidgeon (11:33): IM SORRY LANCE, HUNK… I LOVE U GUYS BUT I WAS GETTING SO TIRED HANGING AROUND YOUR CIS BOY ASSES ALL THE TIME**

**hunkules (11:34): damn**

**lance THE MAN (11:34): shit, love u too pidge**

**pidgeon (11:35): <3 **

**pidgeon (11:36): ok but no… really… how is keith NOT dating u, lance?**

**pidgeon (11:36): weve barely hung out recently and all of ur excuses involve keith**

**pidgeon (11:37): it just seems a little too... suspicious**

**lance THE MAN (11:39): im sorry for not hanging out recently. i really am. but keith is just getting settled and i wanted to wait to throw him into the lion’s den that is hanging out w you two. i didn’t want to scare him away**

**pidgeon (11:40): uhhhhh exactly how long is keith staying w you????**

**hunkules (11:41): yea i was wondering the same thing!!! it’s been, what?? three weeks? that seems a lil excessive**

**lance THE MAN (11:42): keith doesn’t realy have a place to go back to. he lives by himself**

**pidegon (11:43): oh shit. damn**

**hunkules (11:43): aw now i feel bad for prying :(**

**lance THE MAN (11:44): naw don’t worry. its not really a sensitive topic.**

**hunkules (11:45): still… :(**

Keith makes a soft whining noise in his sleep, and Lance watches from his swivel chair as he shifts around and crinkles his nose, as if something were itching him. Lance’s mouth quirks up just a bit.

 

**lance THE MAN (11:47): psh. nah its cool.**

**lance THE MAN (11:48): all u need to know is that keith is staying w me until further notice**

**pidgeon (11:50): hmmmmmmmmmmmm**

**hunkules (11:50): :0**

**pidgeon (11:51): HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM**

**lance THE MAN (11:52): oh god. what is it now**

**pidgeon (11:52): I just… had a thought**

**lance THE MAN (11:53): …**

**pidgeon (11:55): the last time I checked, there were no available rooms in ur house. So…. That means keith is either sleeping on the couch (WHICH I DOUBT MISS CAMILA WOULD ALLOW) orrrrr**

**pidgeon (11:55): hes sleeping in ur room …..**

**lance THE MAN (11:56): yeah? So?**

**pidgeon (11:56): OH MY GOD ARE YALL SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Lance literally _feels_ his face turning red.

 

**lance THE MAN (11:57): YEAH SO WHAT WHY DOES THAT MATTER**

**pidgeon (11:58): OH MY GOD**

**lance THE MAN (11:58): DON’T MAKE THIS WEIRD PIDGE**

**pidgeon (11:59): OOOOOOOOOOOOH MY GOD**

**lance THE MAN (12:00): DON’T MAKE THIS WEIRD!!!!!**

**pidgeon (12:00):** **( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

Lance nearly throws his phone across the room when he sees Keith looking at him. “Oh! Fuck!” He catches his phone before it falls on the ground, luckily. He grins sheepishly at Keith. “You doin alright?”

 

Keith nods blearily. “What time is it?” he murmurs out. With the way he barely moves his mouth, it sounds more like ‘whu tah ‘s eh?’

 

Lance tries not to blush and he _really_ tries to ignore the fluttering of his heart. “Basically noon,” he shrugs. He pretends to look at his phone. “I told Hunk and Pidge we’d meet them for lunch, is that cool?”

 

Lance can see the hesitation in Keith’s eyes, but he gives a comforting smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t let Pidge overanalyze you again. I just think at the time, they were suspicious of you.”

 

Keith narrows his eyes. “Why would they be suspicious of me?”

 

Lance shrugs. “Pidge doesn’t really do confrontations well.” He glances down at his phone and pointedly ignores the new messages from Hunk and Pidge, which are basically just a bunch of exclamation points and weird emoticons.

 

“Oh.” Keith scratches at his cheek. “What time are we meeting them?”

 

Lance hums. “How about one? That’ll give us time to get ready and head to wherever we’re gonna eat.” He nods toward the bathroom. “You can shower first.”

 

Keith nods and slips out of bed, heading toward the bathroom.

 

Lance types up a new message.

 

**lance THE MAN (12:05): meet us @ cornerstone cafe @ 1 for an asskicking**

**[pidgeon changed the group name to: LANCE’S MEGA GAY KEITH CRISIS]**

**lance THE MAN (12:06): i hate you sm right now**

By the time Keith walks out of the shower—with just a towel wrapped around his waist; the _indecency_ —Lance is ready to throttle Pidge.

 

“You done?” Lance asks, already standing up.

 

Keith nods. “Yeah. It’s all yours.”

 

Lance quickly and aggressively showers, trying not to think about sleeping in the same bed as Keith. Because obviously sleeping in the same bed as Keith isn’t weird. And Lance is _not_ having a ‘Mega Gay Keith Crisis’, no matter _what_ Pidge says.

 

Once he’s out of the shower, Lance wraps a towel around his waist and heads back into his room. He nearly _drops_ the towel he’s wearing in shock because Keith is standing in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at Lance. But that’s not the part that gets to him. No. The part that gets to him is the fact that Keith is wearing a skirt. _A skirt._

 

It’s a nice white skirt, not too short, but not too long either. It flows out nicely and has a cute little bow in the front. It ends right about where Keith’s knees start. And—fuckin’ hell—it looks _really good_ on him.

 

Noticing Lance’s staring, Keith shuffles a bit in place. “Is this alright?” he murmurs quietly.

 

Lance blinks out of his trance. “Wh— _Oh_! Haha! Yeah! That’s—That’s fine!” he croaks out. “Just fine!”

 

Keith frowns and attempts to reach out to Lance. “Are you—”

 

“Fine!” Lance backs up a little bit, stuttering. He did _not_ need this, right now. “I’m fine!” He looks at Keith again and flushes. “I just need to…” He points to his dresser. “Pants.”

 

“Oh! Oh…” Keith nods and heads toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He gives a small smile and exits the room, shutting the door behind him.

 

Lance stands in the middle of his room, just staring at his poster of Ellen Ripley. He slowly backs against the wall and slides down, covering his burning face with his hands. “Fuckin’ Pidge,” he mutters darkly.

 

\--

 

When they get to the café, Pidge and Hunk are already there. Hunk waves them over to their table with a grin.

 

“Hey man!” he greets. He pulls Lance into a bone-crushing hug. “It’s been _forever_!”

 

Lance laugh-wheezes. “It’s been a _week_ , Hunk.”

 

“Forever!” he repeats.

 

Pidge chuckles. “Hunk, let him go. You’re crushing him.”

 

When Lance is back on his feet, he nods to Pidge. “You guys have met Keith,” he says, glaring at Pidge when they give a delightful smirk.

 

“Yeah we have!” Pidge grins at Keith. Then they see the skirt. If possible, their grin gets even _wider_. “Well! Don’t you look cute!” they coo.

 

Keith flushes. “Ah… thank you.” He plays with a strand of his hair.

 

“Why are you guys still standing up! C’mon, sit down! I’ve already ordered us some drinks.” Hunks glances apologetically at Keith. “I didn’t know what you liked to drink, so I just got water.”

 

“Oh… that’s fine.” Keith gives a small smile. “Thank you.”

 

“The thing I love about this place,” Lance says while taking a menu from the stack on the table. “Is that they serve breakfast all day.” He grins. “It’s the best, honestly. Like? Pancakes for lunch? Count me in.”

 

Keith gives a small smile. “That sounds interesting,” he hums. He picks up a menu for himself and opens it up gingerly.

 

“Ooh, you should try their French toast!” Lance says, pointing at a picture. “They’re literally to _die_ for!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Trust me.”

 

Keith hums, smiling. “I guess I’ll have to try them, then. I’m not quite sure what ‘French toast’ is, but it looks good.”

 

Pidge frowns. “You don’t know what French toast is? I thought _everyone_ knows what French toast is. It’s like… a given among society to know what French toast is.”

 

Keith shoots Lance a panicked look, but Lance waves it off with a grin. “Keith was really sheltered as a kid. He grew up in an orphanage, so he didn’t get out much.”

 

Hunk sent Keith a sad look. “I’m sorry…”

 

“Oh… oh it’s quite alright,” Keith laughs nervously. “It’s all in the past, y’know?”

 

It was silent for a few moments, and Lance panicked a little, trying to remedy the awkward situation. “Uh—Ah, so… how’s that… paranormal stuff goin’, Pidge?” he asks quickly. He turns to Keith. “Pidge thinks ghosts exist, can you believe it?”

 

Pidge glares at Lance. “They _do_ exist.” They face Keith and grin. “I’m trying to convince my dad to let me take a road trip to the _Stanley Hotel_.” Their eyes shine in excitement. “I want to stay there at least one night.”

 

“The Stanley Hotel is what inspired _The Shining_. It’s a book and movie,” Lance offers.

 

“Have you _never_ seen _The Shining_?” Pidge gasps.

 

“Ah… no,” Keith laughs awkwardly. “I’m not really that knowledgeable about pop culture…”

 

“Dude! —Oh, is it alright if I call you dude?” At Keith’s nod, they continue, “Dude! We should _totally_ watch it together! You’ll love it; trust me!”

 

Lance rolls his eyes. “Don’t watch that bullshit with Pidge. They’ll just spout random ghost history at you the whole time. It’s not worth it. _Plus_ …” He sneers playfully at Pidge, “Ghosts don’t exist _soooo_ …”

 

“Fuck you Lance!” Pidge hisses.

 

Keith chuckles at the two’s display. “I actually think it would be fun. I’d love to watch this shining movie.”

 

Pidge grins fully and Lance groans. “ _No_ , Keith, you can’t! Don’t let them get you wrapped up in all this paranormal fuckshittery!”

 

Keith turns to Lance and gives a soft, playful smile. “But aren’t _you_ the one who’s going to force me to watch all these alien movies with you, Lance?”

 

“What!” Pidge shrieks. “Don’t taint Keith like that!”

 

“Uh… excuse me I think we’re ready to order,” Hunk calls to their waitress. “At least I am.”

 

“I’m not tainting him!” Lance huffs.

 

“But… Lance,” Keith says innocently. “How can you say that aliens exist but not ghosts?” His eyes _sparkle_. “After all, anything is possible.”

 

“Except aliens,” Pidge mutters. “Aliens don’t exist.”

 

Lance and Keith share a grin. “You never know, Pidge,” Lance hums, smiling to himself. “You never know.”

 

\--

 

**LANCE’S MEGA GAY KEITH CRISIS (3 members)**

**pidgeon (4:14): that was fun today**

**pidgeon (4:14): u should have let us hang out w/ keith earlier**

**hunkules (4:15): YEAH keith is super cool!! 10/10 would hang out with again :)**

**lance THE MAN (4:16): i’ll let him know u guys like him**

**lance THE MAN (4:16): he was really nervous about impressing u guys**

**pidgeon (4:17): awwww that’s so cute**

**hunkules (4:17): tell him if he wants to hang out again we’d so be up to it**

**pidgeon (4:18): yea esp if YOURE not there ;)**

**lance THE MAN (4:18): u know what,**

**lance THE MAN (4:19): i feel so attacked**

**[pidgeon changed the group name to: HAHA 420 BLAZE IT]**

**lance THE MAN (4:20): how old are u**

**pidegon (4:20): oh pls like u weren’t WAITING to make that joke**

**lance THE MAN (4:21): ………….**

**pidgeon (4:21): i know u so well**

 

\--

 

It’s late, almost midnight. Lance is on the far right side of his bed, pressed as close to the wall as he can get. Keith is on his other side, his slow breathing the only sound in the room. Lance has been trying to fall asleep for some time, but the erratic beating of his heart combined with the feeling of Keith’s back pressed against his makes it near impossible for him to get any rest.

 

Lance looks up through his window. The moon hangs high the sky, a mere sliver of a crescent. There aren’t many stars out; the air pollution from the city has made it so the only place to see the stars is nearly an hour away. Lance bites his lip and shifts onto his back, looking at Keith in his peripheral.

 

He’s hunched over, in a curled position. His breathing is steady and the soft sighs coming from his mouth fill the quiet air of the room. His hair is splayed against the pillow, soft and feathery, a contrasted black against the white cushion. Lance desperately wants to reach out and card his fingers through it; his hand twitches at the thought of it, but he simply swallows down the desire and closes his eyes.

 

It’s funny, Lance thinks. It’s been nearing a month since Keith seemed to force his way into his life. He would have never dreamed, so long ago, that he’d find someone so extraordinary. Finding those cryptids and creatures was just a longing dream; a hope that maybe one day he’ll actually achieve something special. When Keith was literally handed to him so easily, Lance was overwhelmed. He thought, _Maybe this is it. Maybe I’ll finally be able to prove myself._ But somehow, taking care of Keith became less about his own pride and wants, and became more about Keith himself. Keith wormed his way into Lance’s life, his family, his circle of misfit friends. He fit himself so perfectly into every aspect of Lance’s life, that Lance can’t remember a time where Keith _wasn’t_ apart of him. Keith, an alien—someone from a whole world entirely—found his place in Lance’s closed off heart.

 

Lance closes his eyes and shudders out a sigh, licking his lips. _This is bad_ , he knows. Because having Keith around isn’t going to last forever. Keith can’t stay with him, with his family. Keith has to leave at some point. Lance knows this much.

 

But that doesn’t stop him from trying to delay it as much as possible. Whenever Keith asks about his ship, Lance feels a pit grow in the bottom of his stomach. He feels the panic and dread of the thought of never seeing Keith again; of Keith just flying off into space and forgetting Lance entirely. So he lies, and says _I’m still trying!_ Even though he’s not trying at all.

 

Lance knows, he _knows_ that Hunk would be able to fix Keith’s ship. He knows that with Hunk’s help, Keith’s ship would be fixed and finished within a day or so. And Keith would finally be able to head back into space, to find himself a new place to call home. A place to live without having to hide his identity. A place without Lance.

 

The thought literally pushes all of the air out of Lance’s system; suddenly he can’t breathe, he can’t feel, he can’t see. He shuts his eyes and feels dread and fear invade his mind. Fear of losing Keith. Fear of failure. Fear of hurting him. Fear of disappointing everyone. Fear of being alone.

 

His body feels like it’s on fire, his heartbeat is erratic. His mind is filled with the thoughts of everyone leaving. _Please don’t leave. Please don’t leave._ He can’t breathe. _He can’t breathe._

 

Suddenly, there’s a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Lance?”

 

Lance exhales the breath he’d been holding. He tries to speak, he does. But nothing comes out.

 

He feels Keith shift around, until Keith is looking over at him, his eyes lidded and filled with sleep. “Are you alr—are you crying?” Suddenly, Keith seems more awake. His eyes are filled with worry. He reaches out to touch Lance, but Lance flinches away.

 

“I’m fine,” Lance croaks out.

 

Keith bites his lips, furrowing his eyebrows. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Lance closes his eyes and purses his lips. “Not really.”

 

“Oh.”

 

It’s quiet, the only sound in the room coming from Lance’s labored breathing. He focuses on calming down. He attempts to take control of his breathing and heartrate. He inhales, waits three seconds, exhales.

 

When his breathing is back in order, Lance shifts on his back. He doesn’t open his eyes. “Keith?”

 

The reply is small, quiet. “Yeah?”

 

“Can you tell me about what it’s like? Up there?”

 

“In space?”

 

He nods his head slowly. “Yeah. I… I can’t sleep.” _Your voice calms me down_.

 

Keith hums. “It’s quiet. There’s no sound in space, so it’s easy to get lost in yourself. It’s easy to relax.” He shifts around, fully facing Lance. “It’s beautiful, too. From a distance, stars look like just… tiny dots. Like holes punctured in space. But really, they’re magnificent to behold. They’re powerful and bright. And there’s this planet… the Balmera. It’s a living creature.” He sucks in a breath. “Before the Galra, the Balmera used to produce the most beautiful crystals in the entire galaxy. It was so amazing to look at… I loved it. Space is so vast and large; you’ll never see the same thing twice. It’s so easy to get lost in everything it has to offer.” A sigh. “Sometimes I really miss it.”

 

Lance sucks in a deep breath.

 

“There’s just so much up there,” Keith whispers.

 

Lance closes his eyes. He wants to sleep. “I’d like to see it one day,” he mumbles.

 

Keith huffs out a laugh, and Lance feels his heart sink into his stomach.

 

\--

 

“I have the popcorn,” Lance announces as he struts into his room. “Are you ready for the best movie night of your entire life?” He grins down at Keith and plops himself down on the floor next to him. They had laid out numerous blankets and pillows on the floor beforehand in front of where Lance’s laptop sits, the menu for _Star Wars: A New Hope_ playing over and over.

 

“This is the only movie night of my entire life, Lance,” Keith deadpans, smiling.

 

Lance purses his lips. “Still. It’s gonna be the best.” He leans back. “Do we have everything?”

 

Keith nods. “Popcorn, sodas, movie, Twizzlers,” he holds up a package. “And a family sized jumbo pack of Fruit by the Foot.”

 

Lance nods, grinning. “Excellent.” He leans forward and presses play. “Be prepared to have your mind blown away by the sheer amazingness that is _Star Wars._ ”

 

Keith smirks. “I’m looking forward to it.”

 

Fifteen minutes into the movie, and Keith pipes up, his eyebrows furrowed, “There’s no sound in space, why are the lasers so noisy?”

 

Lance looks over, his mouth full of popcorn and says, “Ifs shiensh fikshin.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Yeah I get that it’s science fiction and not real, but it’s so… inaccurate.” He flinches when Lance throws a popcorn piece at his head.

 

Lance swallows the popcorn that was in his mouth. “It doesn’t have to be accurate, it just has to be entertaining. Now shut up and watch the movie.”

 

Keith frowns, focusing his attention back to the screen.

 

Thirty minutes later, and Keith says, “Asteroids are actually not that close together. They’re quite far apart.” He glares at Lance when he gets another popcorn piece thrown at him. “Stop throwing popcorn at my head!”

 

Lance grins. “Then stop criticizing the movie.”

 

“But there’s just so many flaws to not only the accuracy, but to the plot as well!” Keith argues.

 

“Jesus, you’re the worst to watch movies with.” Lance laughs and throws more popcorn at him. “And I thought Pidge was bad. Just shut up. I’ll let you criticize the prequels, but not the original trilogy. And you better not talk _shit_ about _The Force Awakens_ or I will personally beat your ass into next week.”

 

They continue the movie in relative silence, with Keith watching the screen intently, his eyebrows furrowed and mouth pursed. He leans in closer towards the end, at the battle of the Death Star. Lance grins. _He totally loves it. I knew it._ He leans back smugly and watches as Keith’s eyes widen at the return of the infamous Han Solo.

 

At the end of the movie, Keith leans back, his eyes narrowed.

 

“So?” Lance sings. “Did you love it or did you love it?”

 

“Lance,” Keith murmurs. “Lasers don’t work like that.”

 

Lance groans and flops against the pillows. “You’re hopeless,” he bemoaned. “If you can’t accept _Star Wars_ into your life then you can’t accept _me_ into your life.”

 

“You’re being dramatic,” Keith snorts.

 

“I’m being _perfectly_ serious.”

 

“Whatever, you moron. Just… put in the next movie,” Keith smiles, looking off to the side.

 

Lance grins, his face brightening. “I _knew_ you loved it.”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

“You so did!”

 

“No way.”

 

“Just by the way, you’re smiling, I can tell you loved it!”

 

“Whatever.”

 

Keith grins broadly at him, and Lance feels his heart race. He grins back.

 

\--

 

“ _Feliz cumpleaños!”_

“Happy birthday!”

 

“Happy Birthday, Lance!”

 

Lance grins, his cheeks flooding a bright red. “Aw, God…” he mutters, covering his face.

 

Crowded in the tiny kitchen is Lance’s family—his mother, all five of his siblings, his grandmother, his aunt and uncle, and Keith. They’re all smiling, faces bright and wide. A cake sits perched on the table, nineteen candles stuck all around the top. Presents line the table’s edge and everyone’s wearing those stupid cone party hats. Keith looks especially smug for someone with a party horn in his mouth.

 

Camila rushes toward Lance and wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug and nearly lifting him off the ground. “ _Feliz cumpleaños, cariño! Te amo!_ ”

 

Lance wheezes, and pats his mother on the head. “Yeah, yeah. I love you too, _Madre_.” He meets Keith’s gaze and gives a small smile, which is equally returned.

 

Once his mother lets go of him, she beams up at him. “Come on, now! Blow out the candles before they melt all over the cake!” She ushers him over to the table. “Make a wish, baby.”

 

Lance rolls his eyes, but smiles nonetheless. He leans in, closes his eyes, and quickly blows them out.

 

_Please let him stay._

Amidst all the clapping, Keith leans in and whispers in his ear, “What did you wish for?”

 

Lance gives a small smile. “Nothing important,” he hums.

 

Once all the presents are unwrapped and pleasantries are made with his family, the cake is cut and Lance grabs Keith’s hand and two pieces of cake. He quickly leads them up to his room.

 

“I’m sorry about my family,” Lance chuckles, locking his door. “They can be a bit overbearing.” He sits himself on his bed next to Keith and leans against the headboard. He offers a piece of cake to Keith, who takes it graciously.

 

Keith smiles and shakes his head. “Don’t apologize. I think they’re wonderful.”

 

Lance snorts and takes a bite of cake. “Wonderfully annoying, maybe.”

 

Keith shakes his head. “No… they’re… kind.” He smiles and looks down at his cake, picking at it with his fork. “I’ve never had a family,” he says quietly. “I was just born into the Galra empire, with no one to truly call my family.” He smiles. “So it’s nice, being here with your mother and siblings and distant relatives. They don’t treat me like an outsider, or just a friend. They treat me as if I’m a part of the family and…” He tightens his grip on his fork. “I love it. I… I really love it.” He looks up at Lance and smiles gently. “You have a wonderful family, Lance.”

 

Lance looks on at him, eyes wide. “Oh…” His heart thuds painfully. _I never imagined how much he liked being here…_ “Yeah, they’re pretty great.” Then he frowns, his eyebrows bunched together. “But… if you were just born into the Galra empire, then… do you not have a birthday?”

 

Keith shakes his head. “Birthdays are a foreign concept. There’s not point to the Galra, in celebrating when we were born. Because _we_ don’t matter.” He looks out Lance’s window. “It’s Zarkon who matters. It’s… power and destruction that matters to them. Not the individual.”

 

Lance gapes at Keith. He observes his profile, the way his nose gently slopes down and ends at a pair of full, pink lips. He gazes at Keith’s eyes, purple and shining with what look like oncoming tears. Lance just wants to wrap Keith in his arms and tell him that he doesn’t have to worry anymore. He doesn’t have to worry about the Galra or his space pod or _anything_ anymore. Because he’s found himself a home here. He can stay on Earth with Lance and his family and his friends. He doesn’t have to fear anything anymore.

 

Because Lance will protect him, no matter what.

 

Lance gulps. “W-well then we should give you one,” he croaks out.

 

Keith’s eyes widen. “Huh?”

 

Lance shrugs. “I mean; I already gave you a name? Why not a birthday?” He hums. “Let’s see…” He observes Keith, narrowing his eyes playfully. “You look like an Autumn baby.”

 

Keith raises an eyebrow curiously. “An Autumn baby?”

 

Lance nods. “November. 15. November 15.” He grins. “That’s your birthday.”

 

Keith smirks. “I have a feeling you just pulled that out of your ass.”

 

“Oh, I totally did,” Lance laughs. “But! As of now, November 15 is officially National Keith Day.”

 

“National Keith Day?”

 

“Yep.” Lance grins. “We’ll have a full-out celebration. Cake, party hats,” He flicks at the party hat on top of Keith’s head. “And booze. Lots of booze.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes and smiles, but Lance notices that it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He feels his stomach drop. _Did I say something wrong?_ Keith looks off to the side. “I’ve never had a birthday before…” he murmurs. He turns to Lance and beams fully. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

 

Lance shudders, flushing as he grins back at Keith. His hands feel like they’re shaking, and he can practically hear how fast his heart is beating. _He’s beautiful._

“I feel kinda bad though,” Keith says, sitting up more. “I didn’t realize it was a human custom to give someone a present on their birthday.” He frowns. “So I don’t have anything to give you.”

 

Lance shrugs and shakes his head. “That’s no big deal, man.”

 

Keith purses his lips. “But you’ve done so much for me already, Lance. You saved me and brought me into your home. You’re helping me fix my ship.” Lance’s stomach flips. “You’ve let me into your life so easily and I—” Keith looks down at his hand. “I want to do something for you…” He gently lifts up his hand and sets it on Lance’s own.

 

Lance looks at their nearly intertwined hands. There’s no doubt about it, his hands are shaking. But Keith’s are too, so Lance doesn’t feel as bad about it.

 

Keith looks up at Lance, shifting closer. “Will you let me do this?”

 

Lance’s heart thuds. “Yeah,” he whispers hoarsely.

 

Keith nods and bites his bottom lip. He takes the stupid party hat off his head and throws it somewhere across the room. Lance snorts, and he smiles. He looks back over at Lance.  His eyes trail over Lance’s face, and for the first time, Lance feels fully exposed to Keith, as if he’s baring his soul to him. Keith wordlessly gazes at him, drinking him in, like he’s trying to memorize every detail of Lance’s face.

 

Slowly, Keith leans in until he and Lance are practically nose-to-nose. Lance sucks in a deep breath. From here, he can see the patterns and constellations of color in Keith’s rich, purple eyes. He can see the swirls of indigo and lilac. He spots flakes of yellow and gold, hidden on the edges of the irises. From here, he can practically taste and feel Keith’s breath. He smells like fruit punch and vanilla cake, and never has such a flavor combination sounded so good to Lance.

 

Keith shudders out a breath and whispers, “Is this okay?”

 

Lance closes his eyes and nods, and slowly, he feels Keith’s lips match his own. It’s soft and innocent, just a quick peck, and when Keith pulls away, Lance leans in, slotting their mouth together again. He brings one hand up to card through Keith’s hair, like he wanted to so long ago. He cups Keith’s cheek with his other hand and traces patterns on Keith’s skin with his thumb.

 

All the noise from the outside—the party and music and laughter—is erased and suddenly, all Lance can hear is the thudding of his heart and the slow noises of his lips meeting Keith’s. His skin feels like it’s burning everywhere that Keith’s touching him—his head, his cheeks, his neck, his arm. It’s a burning feeling that Lance never wants to go away, that he wants to keep in his heart and treasure forever. It’s the kind of feeling that he wants to hold onto and lock away with a note that says, _‘This is what it feels like kissing Keith’_.

 

He never wants to not be kissing Keith ever again.

 

Keith slowly parts their lips, his breathing labored and cheeks flushed. He’s still holding onto Lance’s arm, bunching up the fabric of his shirt. He looks nervous, scared even. Like if he opens his eyes, he’ll only see disgust on Lance’s face. And Lance’s heart aches so much for the person in front of him.

 

“Hey Keith?” he murmurs softly.

 

Keith hums, still not opening his eyes.

 

“Thanks. That was a great present.” He smiles when Keith snorts out a laugh and sets his forehead on Lance’s shoulder.

 

Lance wraps his arms around Keith, holding him until the party dies down and the music is gone.

 

 

\--

 

**[lance THE MAN changed the group name to: keith’s a really great kisser: discuss]**

**lance THE MAN (12:45): discuss**

**hunkules (12:45): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :0 !!!!!!! :0 :0 :0 :0000000**

**lance THE MAN (12:46): discuss**

**pidgeon (12:46): gross**

**lance THE MAN (12:47): discuss**

 

\--

 

“You wanna do something daring?” Lance whispers to Keith one night, the two of them curled up in the bed, their noses touching.

 

“I think running away from a corrupt alien society that could kill me is daring enough for one lifetime, don’t you think?” is Keith’s sarcastic response.

 

Lance frowns. “You know what, never mind. I _was_ gonna offer up we steal a six-pack of beer from my brother and drive out to the desert and make out. But. Not anymore.”

 

Keith sits up. “I’ve never had alcohol before…” he murmurs.

 

Lance shrugs. “It’s alright. The beer my brother gets is pretty cheap and taste like piss, but,” He grins. “It gets the job done.”

 

Keith hums. “I’d like to try some.”

 

Lance fully grins, jumping out of the bed. “Then let’s go.”

 

So, they pull on their shoes and grab some blankets, tip-toeing downstairs. Lance grabs the beer from the back of the fridge and hands it to Keith. He grabs his keys and they run toward the back, getting into Lance’s car and heading off into the night.

 

Lance laughs fully and loud once they’re far enough away from the house. He lets the windows down and turns on the radio, nearly swerving off the road from cackling hard when Katy Perry’s _E.T._ floats through the speakers.

 

The drive takes about 45 minutes, Keith laughing and holding Lance’s hand the entire time.

 

“This is my favorite place to go when I want to look at the stars,” Lance says as he drives off toward a side road. “There’re not a building in sight and it’s far enough away from the city to where air pollution won’t get to it.” He gets to a pretty flat area of the road and goes off path, sand following them in their drive.

 

When he gets to a pretty suitable area, he turns the car off and climbs out, Keith following his motions. Lance hops into the back of the truck and spreads out the blankets they had brought. He holds out his hand for Keith, helping him into the trunk.

 

They find themselves situated toward the back of the trunk, leaning against the rear window. They huddle close together, the pack of beer sitting next to their feet.

 

Keith leans his head against Lance’s shoulder, humming. His beer is half-finished in his hand. “You know; this stuff is actually pretty gross.”

 

Lance laughs and takes a drink from his own bottle. “Yeah, it’s pretty awful.” He grins down at Keith, and Keith grins back.

 

Keith gazes up at Lance, his eyes filled with so much happiness and warmth, and Lance just has the desire to _kiss_ him. So he does. He leans down and presses his mouth against Keith’s, feeling the way Keith smiles against his lips. He relishes in it.

 

They both taste like cheap beer and the sand that had billowed around them while they drove and it’s utterly terrible and _perfect_ at the same time. Keith’s lips are warm and full and Lance really enjoys the noise that Keith makes when he bites at his bottom lip. Lance reaches around and pulls Keith toward him, into his lap. He feels the way Keith laughs when he does, and Lance smiles.

 

Lance maneuvers his hands to Keith’s hips, feeling the soft skin that is being exposed from his shirt bunching up. Keith laughs and mutters something about being ticklish, hitting Lance lightly on the shoulder. He wraps his arms around Lance’s neck and plays with the soft hairs at the nape of his neck.

 

When they part with a small _smack_ , Lance looks up at Keith. From where he’s situated, he can see the million stars poured into Keith’s shining eyes, and Lance thinks he’s never seen anything more beautiful.

 

“How are you real,” is what Lance breathes out after a few moments of silence.

 

Keith’s eyebrows raise up. “Hm?”

 

“You’re just!” Lance covers his face with one hand. “You’re just so amazing and beautiful and… _God_ …” He laughs. “I like you. I like you a whole lot.”

 

Keith blinks at him in surprise, but his face melts into something soft and warm. “I like you a lot too, Lance.”

 

Lance groans and covers his face fully. He can feel himself flushing terribly. He sinks down until he’s lying on the bed of his truck, with Keith practically sitting on his stomach. “God, this is so gay, why is this so gay,” he mumbles between his fingers.

 

Keith snorts. “It’s because _you’re_ so gay.”

 

Lance peeks at him through his fingers, grinning. “I thought you aliens didn’t have a concept of sexuality.”

 

Keith bites his lip, smiling. “I guess I’ve been hanging around you for too long.”

 

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?” he teases. His fingers find the edge of Keith’s shirt, running along the strip of skin exposed.

 

Keith hums and looks off to the side, grinning. “I guess it’s not…”

 

They return home a few hours later, sneaking in just as quietly as they left, laughing and kissing softly on their way back to Lance’s room. They collapse against the bed, their hands connected, lips a breath apart, and fall asleep like that, smiling at each other, both painfully and irrevocably in love.

 

\--

 

It’s a day where it’s just them, in Lance’s room. Lance’s family is gone for the day, running errands. They’re alone in on Lance’s bed, Lance typing away at his phone and Keith leaning against his side, tracing constellations with the beauty marks on Lance’s arm. It’s been a relatively peaceful day.

 

Lance then sets his phone aside and looks down at Keith, smiling. “Hey.”

 

Keith meets his gaze. “Hi,” he says warmly.

 

Lance leans down and presses a small kiss to Keith’s nose. “I was thinking…” he murmurs.

 

“That can’t be good,” Keith snorts.

 

“Shut up,” Lance retorts, with no malice. “I’m being serious. I was thinking… and… I want you to remove your glamour again.”

 

Keith frowns and sits up. “Why?”

 

“Because… I just want to see it. I want to see the _real_ you.” He takes Keith’s hand in his and runs his thumb across it. “The you without all the science and technology and stuff…” Lance looks up at him with pleading eyes.

 

Keith bites at his lip. “I don’t know…” he says softly.

 

“Please? It’ll just be the two of us.” Lance links his fingers with Keith’s. His eyes shine as he says, “You can trust me.”

 

Keith sighs and closes his eyes. “Alright…” he murmurs. He slides off the bed and stands up, Lance following him. “But just for a minute, okay? I don’t really… like this form.”

 

Lance nods. “Of course.”

 

Keith shakes his head and pulls out the device he had used last time. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, pushing down on a button. Suddenly, the transformation starts, and ivory pale skin turns lilac and deep purple eyes turn bright yellow.

 

Lance gazes at Keith for a few moments, taking in the sight of the alie—the _person_ before him. Although his appearance is completely different, Lance can still tell that it’s Keith under there somewhere. He knows that Keith is more than what he looks like and claims to be. Keith is someone special, Lance thinks. He’s wonderful and amazing, and it physically hurts Lance to know that Keith hates who he is.

 

He looks up at Keith and gives him a full-blown grin, the corner of his eyes crinkling. “You’re beautiful.”

 

Immediately, Keith flushes and covers his face, groaning. “You’re so embarrassing.”

 

“You’re beautiful,” he repeats again.

 

Keith makes a whining sound akin to a dying whale. “ _Nooooooo_ …”

 

“Gorgeous.”

 

“Stop!”

 

“Dazzling.”

 

 _“Lance,”_ he whines, grinning.

 

“Handsome.”

 

Another groan.

 

“Elegant. Exquisite. Lovely. Enticing. _Sexy—”_

“Why are you doing this?” Keith says through his hands.

 

Lance grins. “Because I want you to know how I feel about you. And I want you to like yourself just as much as I like you. And I like everything about you. Even this.”

 

Keith makes another garbled sound, and Lance opens his mouth to say more gay shit, but suddenly his door burst open to reveal a grinning Pidge and Hunk, who’s smiles instantly turn to shock.

 

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Lance curses at the same time Hunk basically leaps toward Keith, slamming him to the ground, hard.

 

“Hunk, what the hell!” Lance yells.

 

“Dude, why are you so calm when there is a very large and very purple rabid dog in your room!” Hunk screams. “This thing could have murdered you!” He points at Keith, who is on the ground, his face frozen in shock.

 

“That’s not a rabid dog! What kind of dog stand on two legs like that?!”

 

Pidge looks down at Keith, their mouth agape. Their hands are shaking in fear.

 

“Then what the hell is it—OH GOD it’s starting to get up again! We have to _leave_ and call animal control or something!” Hunk wails, grabbing at Pidge and bodily lifting them up into the air. “I’ve got the child, let’s move!”

 

“ _Hunk!”_ Lance hisses. “That’s… not a rabid dog! That’s Keith.”

 

Pidge seems to snap out of their trance quickly. “Keith?!”

 

Keith immediately presses down on the button of his shapeshifting-thing, turning back into his human form. “Uh… hey,” he mumbles, giving an awkward wave.

 

Hunk gently sets Pidge on the floor. “Dude… either that’s some seriously good special effects or you’re…”

 

Lance sighs. “He’s an alien.”

 

“A _what?!_ ” Pidge screeches.

 

Lance winces. “Uh… and alien? He’s an alien.”

 

“Dude…” Hunk whispers, looking down at Keith in shock. “That’s rad.”

 

“ _An alien_?! What the _fuck_ , Lance! When the hell were you gonna tell us that Keith was a fucking _alien_!” Pidge is shaking, now with anger.

 

Lance raises his hands in surrender. “I promised Keith I wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t want people to know his identity.” He glares back at Pidge. “And I can see why. You’re freaking out.”

 

“I’m not freaking out because Keith’s an alien—okay, I kind of am because _what the hell! You were right!_ —I’m freaking out because you didn’t _tell_ us!”

 

“Well I couldn’t just tell you guys without Keith knowing! Besides, you know now, so what’s the big deal?”

 

Pidge covers their face with their hands and screams. “I’m going crazy.”

 

Lance sighs. “Look, we’ll tell you everything, alright. Just. Sit down and shut up.”

 

Hunk and Pidge sit down on Lance’s bed, and Lance looks at Keith, who is still frozen on the floor. He sighs. “I guess I’ll tell you guys, then.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Keith’s ship crash landed in the woods behind my house like… two months ago. I found him and brought him back here. I let him stay here until we found a way to get his ship repaired. He made me promise to not tell anyone his secret. End of story.” Lance crosses his arms over his chest.

 

“His ship crashed?” Hunk asks.

 

Lance nods.

 

“And you can’t fix it?”

 

“Obviously.”

 

“Well, why didn’t you come to me, then?” Hunk frowns.

 

That seems to snap Keith out of his trance. “Wait, what?”

 

“I work at a repair shop. For like, cars and stuff. I’m really good at fixing things,” Hunk rubs at the back of his head. “I’m not sure how advanced your technology is, but I’m sure I could have at least done something to remedy the situation.” Hunk looks over at Lance, frowning. “You knew this; why didn’t you ask me before?”

 

Lance can feel Keith’s gaze burning a hole in the back of his head. “Yeah, Lance, why didn’t you ask him before?” Keith asks. Lance freezes.

 

Keith’s voice is _cold_.

 

He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

 

“Hunk, Pidge,” Keith says, standing up after a few moments of silence. “Can we talk about this later? I really need to discuss some _things_ with Lance.” He stares coldly at them when they don’t move. “And I’d like to do it alone.”

 

Pidge and Hunk look at each other, then Lance. Then they look back at Keith. “Alright,” Pidge murmurs. “We’ll get going.” They shuffle out quietly.

 

Once he hears the front door close, Lance shudders out a sigh and looks at Keith. “Keith, I—”

 

“Don’t,” Keith says darkly. His gaze is dark and cold and Lance _hates_ it. “You knew Hunk could fix my ship?”

 

Lance nods shakily.

 

“And you didn’t _say_ anything?”

 

“I… I didn’t…”

 

“You didn’t _what_ , Lance?” Keith’s eyes flash with anger. “You didn’t want to get rid of the _precious_ creature you found? Did you think that maybe you wouldn’t get famous if I was gone?”

 

Lance frowns. “That’s—no…”

 

“Have you even been _trying_ , Lance? Have you even tried to fix my ship?” Keith _shakes_. “Or have you been too busy fucking around with me? Your little _experiment_.”

 

“You’re not an experiment!” Lance hisses.

 

“Then what am I, Lance? Because, honestly, I’m starting to feel like you only kept me around because I was _convenient_!” Keith yells. “You only wanted me to stay because you _knew_ what I was! You were amazed by me and you didn’t want to get rid of your first, stupid cryptid find!” He steps closer to Lance. “What if I didn’t give you that promise,” he says darkly. He laughs bitterly, “I bet you would have told _everyone_ about what I was. I bet you would have tossed me out like _trash_ in exchange for being the first person to find a real life _alien_.”

 

“That’s not true!” Lance’s voice is practically pleading. “I didn’t keep you around because you’re convenient or anything! I just…” He sighs. “I didn’t want to lose you. I didn’t want you to leave me.”

 

Keith’s face remains cold and calculating. “You’re a selfish piece of _shit_ ,” he hisses. “‘You can trust me!’” Keith scoffs mockingly. “Yeah right… I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you. I knew that I would just end up getting hurt.”

 

Lance’s heart stabs painfully at his chest. “I-I’m sorry…”

 

Keith shakes his head and walks to the door. “I-I can’t be here anymore,” he murmurs. He swiftly slips on his shoes and opens the door. “I have to leave…” Before he shuts the door, he pauses and turns to Lance, his face passive, closed-off. “Goodbye Lance.” Then he closes the door.

 

And he’s gone.

 

Lance stays where he stands for who knows how long. He just stares at the place where Keith was, where Keith left him.

 

_He left me. (He left you because you’re selfish.)_

_What am I going to do? (There’s nothing you can do. He’s gone.)_

 

He feels numb, and when he moves to walk, he just ends up tripping over himself. He collapses on the floor, but he doesn’t feel a thing. “Shit...” he says. “Shit…” He feels the tears well up in his eyes, and one by one they fall to the hardwood floor, creating a small puddle underneath him.

 

“Shit!” he yells, sobbing.

 

_I hurt him. I hurt him so much._

 

Lance doesn’t know how long he lays there, crying, but eventually he gets up and wipes at his face, drying away the tears.

 

 _I have to fix this. I have to find him._ Lance slips on his shoes and grabs his phone off his desk. _I have to tell him I’m sorry._

 

Lance heads to the door and opens it, only to be met with a large, imposing figure blocking his way. Lance looks up and he freezes when he’s met with the coldest pair of yellow eyes.

 

“Lance of Earth,” a deep voice says. “I’ve been looking for you.”

 

Lance wants to run away, to scream. He wants to find Keith and shout and yell at him to _run, leave_. _You’re in danger, you have to go. It’s not safe here anymore._ He wants to do so many things, but he’s frozen in fear to the spot.

 

“I have to find him,” Lance whispers, his breathing erratic. “I have to warn him…” He goes to head for the window.

 

The next thing Lance knows, a fist comes flying toward his face, and his head is smashed against the hardwood floor.

 

Then everything goes dark.

 

[END PART 1]

**Author's Note:**

> Part two coming in a week or two! Thanks for reading!  
> [Tumblr](http://amedala.tumblr.com/)


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